Florent Manaudou Tops Star-Studded 100 Freestyle Final at French Nationals

CHARTRES, France, April 12. YANNICK Agnel found himself outside the top four in the final of the menâ€™s 100 freestyle at the French long course nationals, potentially unable to race in the 400 free relay at the European championships this summer.

Florent Manaudou, more suited to the 50 free, won the 100 free final with a 48.69, good enough for a tie for sixth in the global standings with Japanâ€™s Shinri Shioura. He led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Team Marseille, with Mehdy Metella (48.72), Fabien Gilot (48.73), Gregory Mallet (49.34) and Clement Mignon (49.44) rounding out the top five. Agnelâ€™s 49.52 for sixth place was slower than his semifinal swim of 49.25, but he might be considered as an alternate in the 400 free relay in Berlin at Europeans.

Eric Ress, who just closed out a fine college swimming career for Indiana University, is on the verge of qualifying for the European championship team, posting the fastest time in todayâ€™s 200 backstroke semifinal with a 2:00.07. Heâ€™ll be challenged by Benjamin Stasiulis, who swam a 2:01.80 today. Jeremy Stravius was entered in the 200 back, but scratched the event to leave Ress and Stasiulis as the ones most in contention for the national title tomorrow.

Today was mostly about the women with four finals for females held tonight in Chartres. Camille Muffat didnâ€™t put up a time in the 200 free final that would challenge the fast swims being posted elsewhere in Europe this week, but her 1:57.05 was good enough for gold today ahead of the 1:58.00 by Charlotte Bonnet. Muffat ranks seventh in the world with her swim, while Bonnet just makes it into the top 20 global standings. Coralie Balmy was third with a 1:59.48.

Earlier in the meet, Anna Santamans kept Muffat from a sweep of the 50-100-200 freestyles, taking the national title with a 25.01 to Muffatâ€™s 25.52. Anouchka Martin was third with a 25.65. Morgane Rothon won the womenâ€™s 1500 free with a 16:32.84, well ahead of the 16:39.36 by Coralie Codevelle and the 16:41.22 by Aurelie Muller.

In the other womenâ€™s final of the day, Lara Grangeon posted a 2:11.57 to win the 200 fly, falling just outside the top 20 world rankings. Marie Wattel was second with a 2:12.86 to break an age group national record for 17-year-olds, while Barbora Zavadova took third with a 2:13.45.

Hungaryâ€™s David Verraszto won the menâ€™s 400 IM with a 4:14.91, good enough for ninth in the world standings. The top Frenchman was Quentin Coton, with a 4:20.94 for second place. Theo Fuchs posted a 4:26.55 for third.

In other semifinal action, Stravius put up the fastest time in the 100 fly semis with a 53.54, just beating out the 53.67 by Jordan Coelho and the 53.79 by Metella. Fanny Deberghes, who was third in the 100 breast earlier in the meet, will go into tomorrowâ€™s 200 breast final as the top qualifier with a 2:31.76, while Coralie Dobral was second with a 2:32.17. Fantine Lesaffre was third overall with a 2:32.35.

Author: Jeff Commings

Jeff Commings is the Senior Writer for SwimmingWorld.com and Swimming World Magazine. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and was a nine-time NCAA All-American.